Officials and security personnel stand near the site of reported blast outside the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, Thursday, July 26, 2018. A fire or possible explosion appears to have taken place outside the U.S. Embassy in Beijing on Thursday. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

The Latest: Police say man injured setting off embassy blast

July 26, 2018 - 12:17 am

The Associated Press

BEIJING (AP) — The Latest on an explosion outside the U.S. Embassy in Beijing (all times local):

3 p.m.

Chinese police say the explosion outside the U.S. Embassy in Beijing was caused by a small homemade device wielded by a 26-year-old man who hurt only himself.

Photos on social media showed a large amount of smoke and police vehicles surrounding the embassy.

The police statement identified the man only by his surname, Jiang, and said he was from the city of Tongliao in the Chinese region of Inner Mongolia.

No other injuries were reported.

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2 p.m.

Eyewitnesses say online an explosion has taken place outside the U.S. Embassy in Beijing.

Photos posted on Twitter showed a large amount of smoke and what appeared to be police vehicles surrounding the vast structure in northeastern Beijing on Thursday afternoon.

Police did not immediately respond to comments on the incident.

China and the U.S. are in the middle of a trade dispute, but America remains a hugely popular destination for travel, education and immigration for Chinese.